Magomedov & others -v- TPG Group Holdings & others [2025] – CA-2025-000366
Mishcon de Reya secured victory in January 2025 for Mr Kuzovkov, the Thirteenth Defendant in challenging the jurisdiction of the English Court in a 32-party claim for over $14 billion – one of the largest claims ever in the Commercial Court. Please refer to our previous article for further details.
The Claimants sought permission to appeal which has this week been rejected by the Court of Appeal, bringing an end to the Claimants' two conspiracy claims.
The Claimants' 23 grounds of appeal included the assertion that Mr Justice Bright failed to apply the relevant legal principles and instead conducted a minitrial in which he reached "final conclusions on myriad factual issues", losing sight of the "serious issue" threshold which simply as required the applicants to surmount that their claims were not frivolous or vexatious.
In an Order dated 3 June 2025, Lord Justice Males found that an appeal would have no real prospect of success and that Mr Justice Bright had applied the applicable legal tests and exercised his discretion correctly in dismissing the claims.
Lord Justice Males also dismissed the Claimants' application to rely on an 87-page skeleton argument for the permission to appeal application (62 pages over the amount permitted by the court rules), observing, "a skeleton of this length is generally unhelpful as it tends to obscure rater than to clarify essential issues arising on appeal."
The Court of Appeal also discharged the anti-anti-suit and anti-enforcement injunctions against the Twentieth Defendant, Transneft.
Further members of Mishcon de Reya's team included Partners Kasra Nouroozi and Richard Trainer, Managing Associate Callum Close, Trainee Solicitors Angelika Velickovska, Karolina Tomaite and Lucinda Ellis.
Instructed by Mishcon de Reya, the Counsel team consisted of Tony Peto KC (Blackstone Chambers) and Peter Head (Blackstone Chambers).